Common knowledge construction

As common knowledge construction (also collective knowledge construction , collaborative knowledge construction or discursive knowledge generation ) is primarily in the sociology and pedagogy refers to a process in which the "organized knowledge work" on the basis of new collaboration technologies to the aspect of social interactivity is enhanced. It is a field of work in the sociology of science, the environment and knowledge . Collective knowledge construction is understood as a new challenge in the course of the social development from industrial to knowledge societies . The term is also used in organizational theory ( knowledge management ) to describe new forms of knowledge-based collaboration .

The term collective knowledge construction

The term knowledge is usually defined as a distinction to information and data . In a definition according to Norbert Fuhr, data are entries whose type or syntactic structure is known. Entries for which it is known what they describe or which properties of an object they represent are defined as knowledge. Knowledge therefore requires a semantic structure.

In this definition, information is context-bound data, i.e. entries that can only be used in connection with a specific situation. When it comes to the definition of knowledge, it is disputed whether knowledge is linked to a human consciousness or whether it can also be the subject of technological processes. The latter is included in Fuhr's definition.

A distinction is made between “implicit” and “explicit” knowledge as forms of knowledge. The former is not formally comprehensible, but is based on personal experience, skills learned and their combination. Explicit knowledge can be concretely grasped because it is present in formal structures (e.g. grammatical sentences, mathematical expressions). With regard to knowledge, an individual level and a group level (or organizational level) can be distinguished. The discussion of a collective construction of knowledge assumes a shift of knowledge from the first to the second and third level. Therefore, a concept of knowledge that is not linked to human consciousness is emphasized.

According to Jean Piaget ( The equilibrium of cognitive structures , 1985), “construction” is a process in which the individual reflects and organizes his or her experiences. The aim of this process is to structure the respective environment and, on the other hand, to adapt to it. Here are Cognitive Systems applied to interpret a given situation, for other impressions are used to treat the cognitive systems to change over time and adapt. For Piaget, however, there is only individual knowledge, because knowledge is always linked to specific individuals and thus to human consciousness.

Knowledge construction is understood to be a cognitive learning process that interacts with and processes external influences and sets internal impulses to structure the respective environment.

The aspect of commonality in the construction of knowledge refers to a discourse in the context of the process of understanding and knowledge acquisition. According to Piaget, the clash of different views causes a disruption ( perturbation ) of the individual cognitive balance (equilibrium). The individual strives to maintain this balance ( equilibration ). If the disturbance cannot be traced back to what is already known (assimilation), a new pattern with characteristics that differ from the previous one is created through accommodation. It does not matter whether the disorders are empirical or mental in nature. Mental perturbations are much more common. As thought experiments, mental perturbations are probably the most productive source for learning processes.

These cognitive interactions in the context of a social dimension of the creation and change of knowledge are described variously with the term collective or common (= each individual for himself) knowledge construction. Willke, Fischer and others do not share this approach.

The change from an industrial to a knowledge society

Sociologists, especially Helmut Willke , see so-called "knowledge work" as a core element of the transformation from an industrial society to a knowledge society . One can speak of a knowledge society in the sense of Amitai Etzioni and Daniel Bell when the structures and processes of material and symbolic reproduction of a society are so permeated by knowledge-dependent operations that information processing, symbolic analysis and expert systems take precedence over other factors of reproduction. One can only speak of a knowledge-based society when context-specific expertise is generated in all areas of society. In a knowledge society there was no longer a “knowledge class” in the sense of a predominance of experts. However, if knowledge construction is a societal, democratized activity, the possibilities and forms of collective knowledge construction will become increasingly important.

Especially organization sociology this change is for Willke of particular interest. To the extent that organized knowledge work becomes the mode of operation of knowledge-based organizations, the concept of knowledge also changes . While knowledge-based activities have so far been based on the specialized expertise of specialists who have acquired their specialist knowledge in lengthy training processes, the term knowledge work does not refer to knowledge that was acquired once in a lifetime through experience, initiation, teaching, specialist training or professionalization and then applied but rather on knowledge that has to be continuously constructed and updated: " Rather, knowledge work in the sense meant here requires that the relevant knowledge (1) is continuously revised, (2) permanently viewed as in need of improvement, (3) in principle not as truth but is viewed as a resource and (4) is inextricably linked to ignorance, so that specific risks are associated with knowledge work. “Here, the“ construction of knowledge in the context of work and the technology used ”came to the fore. Knowledge becomes the “raw material” and “product” of organizational activity. Knowledge work is not understood as a person-related activity, but as an activity that is based on an “elaborate interplay of personal and organizational aspects of knowledge”.

Collective knowledge construction in organizations

When companies and other organizations operate increasingly knowledge-based, the question of how to manage knowledge as a resource arises. As the importance of complex, knowledge-based goods increases, so does the importance of efficient forms that allow, above all, specialized knowledge to be coordinated and made available company-wide. Knowledge as “intellectual capital” obeys a different logic than classic production mechanisms. The increase in knowledge-based social systems and the collective construction of knowledge therefore requires a revision of the economic theory of the company and the sociological theory of the organization.

A specific challenge for knowledge-based organizations is building an intelligent knowledge infrastructure . This is primarily a topic in management theory . For management theory, intelligent organization is the place where personal and systemic intelligence are recombined. With the help of knowledge management , the knowledge of organization members - including tacit knowledge - must be processed, organized and transformed into collective knowledge of the organization. This is done with the help of document management (people-to-document) or expert systems (people-to-people). It is therefore important for a company to promote the collective construction of knowledge and assimilate its potential. This creates "systemic intelligence".

Knowledge-based as a challenge for pedagogy: cooperative learning

According to educators, the opportunities and challenges of global communication through new technologies lead to new challenges for education and training. As a result, pedagogy must place more emphasis on abstract skills , including communication skills, exploratory skills, situated cognition, cooperative learning and joint knowledge construction. The social changes in the direction of a knowledge society and the associated requirements for a responsible and independent handling of diverse sources of knowledge would also make a reorientation in the continuing education landscape necessary. If one follows this premise, knowledge must be acquired more problem-related in the future and not only consumed, but also constructed oneself. According to educators and psychologists, the internet and online communities offer new vehicles for the social construction of knowledge. According to cognitive scientists, the brain can be used as a model for a structure that leads to the effective construction of knowledge . According to the educator Jean-Pol Martin , in the current research and education system, knowledge is still being hoarded by experts and passed on to the initiated through monographs and scientific articles. The knowledge presented in this way is neither questioned nor enriched by their own contributions by the customers, who as a rule do not attribute themselves to a higher level of competence than the author. The new means of communication, however, involved far more people. In the new knowledge society, the production of knowledge will be democratized in a dynamic process of continuous presentation, testing and storage. Martin expands the concept of learning through teaching (LdL) to include the collective construction of knowledge on the Internet, primarily to promote exploratory skills and “ network sensitivity ”.

literature

Frank Fischer: Common Knowledge Construction - Theoretical and Methodological Aspects (Pedagogy), October 2001 ( online ( Memento from July 6, 2003 in the Internet Archive ))
Sabine Gruber: Intermediate Organizations in Urban Development. Opportunities for collective learning and the development of democracy. Munich 2007 ( [1] )
Construction of knowledge in companies (seminar paper with Wolf-Andreas Liebert)
Edmund Kosel: The construction of knowledge. A didactic epistemology . Bahlingen 2007
Heinz Mandl and Ulrike-Marie Krause, Learning Competence for the Knowledge Society , 2001 (Pedagogy). ( (PDF; 124 kB)
Heinz Mandl, Katrin Winkler, Knowledge Management in Communities - Communities as a Central Scenario of the Further Education Landscape in the Third Millennium (Practical Report No. 27), 2003 ( online ( memento from June 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive ))
Jean-Pol Martin: Research homepage - homepage research , in: E. Piepho, A. Kubanek-German (Eds.): 'I beg to differ'. Contributions to bulky intercultural thinking about a world in peace. Festschrift for Hans Hunfeld . Munich: Judicum 1998: 205–213, (PDF file; 472 kB)) ( Memento from June 26, 2003 in the Internet Archive ).
Jean-Pol Martin: Knowledge container: Online communities and collective learning processes . In: Neveling Christiane (ed.): Perspectives for future foreign language didactics. Tübingen: Narr, pp. 89-102, 2002 ( online ( Memento from July 27, 2003 in the Internet Archive ), review )
Klaus Neundlinger: The performance of knowledge work. Intangible added value and new independence. Vienna / Graz: Nausner & Nausner 2010.
Sigmar-Olaf Tergan: Learning and Knowledge Management with Hypermedia , In Tergan, S.-O. (2003). Learning and knowledge management with hypermedia. Teaching science. 31 (4), 334-358 ( [2] )
Jörg Zumbach, Andreas Rapp: Hypermedia and Knowledge Construction , Osnabrück Contributions to Language Theory, Issue 63 ( [3] ), therein:: Knowledge acquisition with hypermedia. A cognitive science study, pp. 27–44
Reinhard Willfort, Klaus Daughtermann, Aljoscha Neubauer (eds.): Creativity @ Work for knowledge work , Aachen 2007, ISBN 9783832260286
Christian Pentzold : Powerful Truths. Discursive knowledge generation in Wikipedia from Foucault's perspective , In: Stegbauer, Christian / Schmidt, Jan / Schönberger, Klaus (Eds.): Wikis: Discourses, Theories and Applications. Special edition of kommunikation @ gesellschaft, vol. 8. Online publication: PDF
Wolf, Anneke: Wikipedia and collaborative work on the Internet , in: Thomas Hengartner and Johannes Moser (eds.): Limits and Differences. On the power of social and cultural boundaries, 35th Congress of the German Society for Folklore, Dresden 2005, Leipzig 2007 (Writings on Saxon History and Folklore, Vol. 17), pp. 639–650.
Moskaliuk, Johannes (ed.): Construction and communication of knowledge with wikis. Boizenburg: Verlag Werner Hülsbusch, 2008, ISBN 3-940-31729-2

Web links

Wikiversity: Knowledge Sciences - Course Materials

Individual evidence

^ Helmut Willke: Organized knowledge work. In: Journal of Sociology. Volume 27, Issue 3, June 1998, pp. 161–177 ( PDF, 932 kB )
↑ James Quinn: Intelligent Organization. 1992
↑ For example, the psychologist Heinz Mandl says: “ In addition to tried-and-tested traditional training concepts, approaches that emphasize the exchange of knowledge and experience, self-directed and cooperative learning as well as work-related and application-oriented learning are central. The targeted use of knowledge as a resource as well as the timely acquisition and transfer of knowledge become an important part of continuing education in the third millennium. “( Knowledge management in communities , together with Katrin Winkler, 2003).
↑ Some supporters of the Kondratjew theory, such as Erik Händeler , consider the new means of communication as a prerequisite for a new economic cycle, the 6th Kondratjeff ; E. Händeler (2003): The history of the future - social behavior today and the prosperity of tomorrow.
↑ The teaching and learning researcher Frank Fischer writes in a research report from 2001: “ Today, educators and psychologists are equally fascinated by the phenomena of shared knowledge construction: groups of learners discuss complex topics without intensive intervention by teachers and try to put their own experiences into context reflect on theoretical concepts while at the same time understanding the meaning of the concepts used. First of all, one expects such scenarios that the learners will acquire “better”, that is, more perspective or more critical knowledge. Furthermore, it is assumed from such scenarios that the learners acquire important social and societal competences, such as argumentative competences, in cooperative learning. Finally, in some approaches, the common results of the cooperation come more and more to the fore, for example the jointly constructed, external knowledge base that is permanently available to all learning partners. “Frank Fischer (2001): Common Knowledge Construction - Theoretical and Methodological Aspects.
↑ If this comparison is carried out, Internet users can be metaphorically defined as neurons that interact with one another in large numbers and with great frequency. In relation to the brain, the “ emerging ” results of these apparently chaotic neuron interactions ( neural networks ) are called “thoughts”. Transferred to the Internet, through intensive interactions between people / neurons, solutions to problems relevant to mankind can be developed. See: Hans Strohner: Kognitive Systeme. An Introduction to Cognitive Science. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1995, pp. 209-210. and J. de Rosnay, P. Russel
^ Jean-Pol Martin: Constructing knowledge together: using the example of Wikipedia . In: Klebl, Michael, Köck, Michael (eds.): Projects and perspectives in the digital studies. Münster: LIT-Verlag, 2006, 157–164 ( online ( memento of January 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ))

[1] Helmut Willke: Organized knowledge work. In: Journal of Sociology. Volume 27, Issue 3, June 1998, pp. 161–177 ( PDF, 932 kB )

[2] James Quinn: Intelligent Organization. 1992

[3] For example, the psychologist Heinz Mandl says: “ In addition to tried-and-tested traditional training concepts, approaches that emphasize the exchange of knowledge and experience, self-directed and cooperative learning as well as work-related and application-oriented learning are central. The targeted use of knowledge as a resource as well as the timely acquisition and transfer of knowledge become an important part of continuing education in the third millennium. “( Knowledge management in communities , together with Katrin Winkler, 2003).

[4] Some supporters of the Kondratjew theory, such as Erik Händeler , consider the new means of communication as a prerequisite for a new economic cycle, the 6th Kondratjeff ; E. Händeler (2003): The history of the future - social behavior today and the prosperity of tomorrow.

[5] The teaching and learning researcher Frank Fischer writes in a research report from 2001: “ Today, educators and psychologists are equally fascinated by the phenomena of shared knowledge construction: groups of learners discuss complex topics without intensive intervention by teachers and try to put their own experiences into context reflect on theoretical concepts while at the same time understanding the meaning of the concepts used. First of all, one expects such scenarios that the learners will acquire “better”, that is, more perspective or more critical knowledge. Furthermore, it is assumed from such scenarios that the learners acquire important social and societal competences, such as argumentative competences, in cooperative learning. Finally, in some approaches, the common results of the cooperation come more and more to the fore, for example the jointly constructed, external knowledge base that is permanently available to all learning partners. “Frank Fischer (2001): Common Knowledge Construction - Theoretical and Methodological Aspects.

[6] If this comparison is carried out, Internet users can be metaphorically defined as neurons that interact with one another in large numbers and with great frequency. In relation to the brain, the “ emerging ” results of these apparently chaotic neuron interactions ( neural networks ) are called “thoughts”. Transferred to the Internet, through intensive interactions between people / neurons, solutions to problems relevant to mankind can be developed. See: Hans Strohner: Kognitive Systeme. An Introduction to Cognitive Science. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1995, pp. 209-210. and J. de Rosnay, P. Russel

[7] Jean-Pol Martin: Constructing knowledge together: using the example of Wikipedia . In: Klebl, Michael, Köck, Michael (eds.): Projects and perspectives in the digital studies. Münster: LIT-Verlag, 2006, 157–164 ( online ( memento of January 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ))